₦airaland Forum

Dictatorship exists but dictators have never ever existed.

Hold on... I know what you are thinking . You are asking "what about North Korea, Stalin, Idi Amin and co, where they not dictators?".

They weren't dictators but heads of dictatorship - an exclusive inner circle of elite that through an endorsed figure rule with an iron fist.

Kim Jong Un is still in power not because he posses some super natural physical and mental advantage over the entire North Korean populace but because he has the backing of loyal military and party figures.

Just like all military dictatorship require an elite crop of senior officers backing the figurative head, so also does the power to rule is represented not in the figure of the dictator but is in the hands of the supreme military council.

When the SMC lost confidence in Buhari's leadership qualities and staged a coup to have him removed they stated clearly that Buhari was removed for taking arbitary decisions without recource to consulting the SMC.

Abacha on the other hand had more extensive backing beyond the SMC which he caged .and drew his endorsement from mid ranking and junior officers. This tells you how smart he was as he knew very well how members of the SMC which he was part of removed both Shagari, Buhari and IBB from power.

So blaming Abacha alone for the tyranny experienced under his govt is uncalled for. The entire mid ranking and junior officers loyal to him (with some of them now occupying powerful positions) were the problem. That same crop of Abacha loyalists in the army are the ones now in charge of this quasi military dictatorship under Buhari.

For us to avoid another dictatirship we must purge the real forces behind it and in Nigeria case it is the military which Buruntai is now grooming future panelists of a dictatorship.

Todays Nigerian military is a shadow of itself. It is an epitome of extreme incompetence. The military is super corrupt and is just a tool in the hands of the feudal civilian regime

Michaeltreasure:
Todays Nigerian military is a shadow of itself. It is an epitome of extreme incompetence. The military is super corrupt and is just a tool in the hands of the feudal civilian regime

The Nigerian Army is the biggest longest running armed political party in Africa.


They are primarily a power broker and not in any way a defensive military force.

[quote author=ChiefJusticeFuc post=97527758]The Nigerian Army is the biggest longest running armed political party in Africa.
Seconded!